This humble building is located in Plaza del Templete in Caravaca de la Cruz (Murcia) and according to oral tradition, it was the dwelling where San Juan de la Cruz lived during his trips to the town for the foundation of the Discalced Carmelite convent. Historical documentation indicates that the mystic saint rented "a small house from some Moriscos" in 1586 near the church of the Immaculate Conception.

The building

The property is listed in the General Urban Planning Plan of Caravaca de la Cruz with grade 2: structural conservation. It has three floors and is a good example of humble residential architecture that has not undergone significant changes since the 18th century: the panelled wooden carpentry remains, as well as the only wooden cantilevered balcony preserved in Caravaca de la Cruz.

The intervention

In 2020, the facades and roof were addressed, but the interior was in very poor condition. In 2021, the project began to rehabilitate the building and convert it into the San Juan de la Cruz House Museum in Caravaca. The criteria applied were maximum respect for the building's interior and its historical and cultural values, and the use of low environmental impact techniques and materials.

The program established by the Conde Santa Ana de las Torres Foundation, owner of the building, consisted of reproducing the historical and ethnographic values of the property on the ground floor, creating exhibition rooms on the first floor to bring the life of San Juan de la Cruz and his relationship with Caravaca closer to visitors, and a library and meditation room on the top floor.

To accomplish this, a new volume was built next to the patio to house the elevator, evacuation staircase and toilets, so that the historic building would have minimal impact from new installations. This volume was designed with a white facade made of lime mortar so that it would be neutral in relation to the adjacent historic building and guarantee a contemporary reading that would differ from the pre-existing adjacent facade, while reproducing the triple-row tile eave to achieve proper integration.

Inside, the floor structures whose joists were impossible to reuse were designed with round logs and plaster vaults in the same way that floors of this type of dwelling have been built in the area for centuries. The ground floor space dedicated to kitchen and living room stands out, reproducing the way of life of a humble 16th-century dwelling.

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